Intentions to Marry, 1901 South Island

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840420, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, September 22 2025

1901 is bound in two volumes, North Island districts and South Island districts.

Page 309

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1891 Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
399	24 July 1891	George Walter Dale Annie Thornton	George Walter Dale Annie Thornton 💍 1901/3273	Bachelor Spinster	Carpenter Domestic	43 33	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 9 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/3758		24 July 1891	Registrar J. Macfarlane
400	24 July 1891	Robert Edward Bateman Edith Millicent Maule	Robert Edward McCourt Edith Maud Milicent Bateman 💍 1901/3880	Bachelor Spinster	Photographer Domestic	52 21	Christchurch Christchurch	22 years 4 days	St. Andrew's Church, Christchurch	01/4418		24 July 1891	Rev. J. Macfarlane, Presbyterian
401	27 July 1891	Charles Bruce Handbury Emily Amelia Sincade	Charles Ernest Hamilton Emily Amelia Sneade 💍 1901/3327	Bachelor Spinster	Engineer Domestic	30 24	Sydenham Christchurch	18 years 2 years	Christchurch Pro Cathedral, Barbados St, Christchurch	01/3837		27 July 1891	Rev. H. W. Bonnett, Romanist
402	29 July 1891	Bethel Price Andrews Bessie Wood	Bethel Prinn Manhire Bessie Wood 💍 1901/3337	Widower Widow	Painter	36 30	Christchurch Christchurch	36 years 10 years	Registrar's Office, St. Bede, Christchurch	01/3818		29 July 1891	Rev. T. R. Griffin, Wesleyan
403	29 July 1891	William John Bullard Rachel Milne	William John Baird Rachel Milne 💍 1901/3617	Bachelor Spinster	Millwright	24 24	Papanui Papanui	4 years 24 years	Presbyterian Church, Papanui	01/3867		29 July 1891	Rev. W. Simpson, Presbyterian
404	30 July 1891	Arthur Pedford Palmer Mary Elizabeth Millicent	Arthur Pickford Mary Elizabeth Palmer 💍 1901/3313	Bachelor Spinster	Postmaster	31 28	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 30 years	St. John's Church, Christchurch	01/3799		30 July 1891	Rev. H. C. Cotterill, Anglican
405	30 July 1891	David Craik Lily Louisa Cash	David Craw Lily Louisa Cant 💍 1901/3807	Bachelor Spinster	Miller	24 20	Papanui Papanui	24 years 4 years	St. Paul's Church, Papanui	01/4342	Walter Cash, Father	30 July 1891	Rev. J. Campbell, Anglican
406	30 July 1891	William Boyd Alice Pateman	William Boyd Alice Pateman 💍 1901/3274	Bachelor Spinster	Labourer Domestic	28 26	Christchurch Christchurch	27 years 3 years	Registrar's Office, Christchurch	01/3759		30 July 1891	Registrar J. M. Macfarlane

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1901. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).